How To Burn a CD With iTunes, Using Music From Your Personal Collection

Everybody loves music, and since we love music, there is a good chance we have a lot of it. Perhaps we have an extensive collection of CD’s (compact discs) stashed on the shelf or in our car. Likely, we have an MP3 player, such as an iPod, and we listen to thousands of songs with a touch of a finger.

The first thing you’ll need to be sure of is that you have a computer capable of burning a CD. All of today’s computers have this functionality built into them already, and if you have bought a new computer in the last 7 or 8 years, I can almost guarantee you have it built in. You can figure this out easily by checking your system hardware in the settings of your computer. You’ll need a CD-R or CD-RW capable drive, which may also be labeled as a DVD-R and DVD+R drive.

The next thing you’ll need is the software to burn the disc. Personally, I find iTunes to be the best at doing this simply because it’s very easy and straight forward. There are a lot of programs that will do it though. For the purpose of this tutorial, however, we’ll be using iTunes.

You can grab the latest version of iTunes from Apple by clicking HERE. The software will take you through the installation instructions. If you already have iTunes, you can obviously avoid this step and go right to the next step. Also, if you have been using iTunes for your music collection the entire time, and you already have music into that program, simply skip to the next title of the process, “Burning your CD.”

With iTunes, you’ll need to import your music. Importing is the act of taking something you already have, and placing it into something else. That’s what we want to do. We need to take the music we already have, and place it into iTunes so that the software can see, and use it. If your music is on a collection of CD’s, place the CDs into your CD Drive one by one, and import the music into iTunes. iTunes should automatically detect the disc, and may even prompt you to import the music from it. Simply say yes, and the process is done automatically (easy). If the music is already on your computer, then the process is even easier. Just click on the music you want to import, and drag it into the iTunes window. iTunes will quickly import all the music you have dragged into it.

When you have successfully placed your desired music into iTunes, you are ready to start the CD burning process.

(Please note that I’m using a Mac for this tutorial. Functions are the same in Windows, but they may be located in a different place.

Burning your CD

STEP 1) Open iTunes if it’s not open already.

STEP 2) In order to create a a CD of the music you own in iTunes, we’ll need to create a “Playlist” for the music to go into. Along the left sidebar (the long area along the left side), near the bottom, you’ll see the “+” symbol. Click that, and you’ll see a new playlist has been inserted into the section.

STEP 3) Name the playlist whatever you wish. Since iTunes only burns CDs from playlists, we’ll be placing songs into this playlist next.

STEP 4) Place songs into the playlist with a simple click and drag. If you want to speed up the process, you can highlight multiple songs at one time, and drag them over as a group. You’re dragging it into the playlist from the MUSIC library, and you drag them to the [PLAYLIST] that you just created (on the left sidebar)

STEP 5) With all music into your playlist, you are ready to burn your CD. Please note that CDs have limitations to how many songs they can hold, and you’ll need to be sure that you haven’t placed too many into the playlist. If you have, iTunes will inform you that there are too many, and that multiple CDs will be required. If that is the case, and you don’t wish to use multiple CDs, you’ll need to remove songs from the playlist (just click and hit the DELETE key) in order to satisfy the CD’s size requirement.

(Note: Deleting songs from a playlist does not remove them from iTunes. it simply takes them out of that Playlist group)

STEP 6) To Burn the CD, Right click the Playlist (in the left sidebar) and select “Burn Playlist to Disc”.

If for whatever reason, a Right-Click (or “secondary click) doesn’t give you that option, you can still find the option in the program menu:

STEP 7) iTunes will ask you a little bit about how you want your disc to be burned. If you want it to play in conventional CD players, such as in your car or stereo, then you’ll want to select AUDIO CD. If you have an MP3 CD Player, you can actually select this option. Your CD will not be able to play in conventional/standard CD players, but your MP3 CD player will play it nicely. Note also that MP3 CDs can hold a lot more songs than a standard audio CD.

STEP 8) When all options are selected as you want, hit BURN. It’s at this time where you will be prompted that you have too many songs if you do. If that is the case, refer to Step 5 for the solution. If it doesn’t prompt you, you’re good to go!

The burning process should take anywhere between 4-8 minutes, depending on your system, and when it’s finished, iTunes will eject your CD tray, and you’ll have a nice Audio CD!

Hope that helps! If you have any more questions, please feel free to visit us on Facebook!

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About the AuthorCharlie Pryor

Charlie is a tech nut, and a believer in a simpler and more educated internet. He's the founder of HotTips, and runs the brand new Pryor Media, which allows all people to easily start building their brand online.

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